


Perceptions

by Somecallmemichelle



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Best Friends, Companions, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, How the world views them, Hurt/Comfort, No Words Needed, not romantic - Freeform, perceptions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-13
Updated: 2017-06-13
Packaged: 2018-11-13 20:36:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11192928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Somecallmemichelle/pseuds/Somecallmemichelle
Summary: Tien has his own fair share of demons, his own fair share of doubts, yet he keeps them quiet in his own gut, to unleash whenever he can word them properly. Chiaotzu has his own worries, about how he is perceived, yet none of them care about their problems half as much as they care for the problems of the other, and how that makes the other feel.





	Perceptions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SatuD2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SatuD2/gifts).



“I’ve just been more interested in other stuff recently,” he said, pausing the handling of the smooth capsule, which he had been previously been rolling in between both fingers, to look ahead. Though the question hadn’t been asked out loud, they both knew each other so well it hadn’t needed to be asked, only a tilt of Chiaou’s head giving the indication that something plagued his mind. Ahead of Tien a  majestic sight faced him, and he could pretend to get lost in it, if things went well. But it wasn’t to be as Chiaotzu knew him too well for the sight of plateaus prickled here and there by rocks, hustling out of the ground like needles, so far was their distance, specks of green sprinkled out and about,  to pass for a sight that would take his attention for long. Though it was majestic in its vastness, the landscape was barren, as barren as his efforts to ignore than unanswered  follow up question by the child sized floating man next to him.

 

Tien would wipe his brow, if he didn’t have an eye there, or weren’t he a triclops?  It wasn’t as if he felt tired, years of training with Master Shen and later Master Roshi had honed his body in such a way that he rarely got so just from walking, but he felt compelled to answer the question that Chiaou silently imposed. The only problem was, he didn’t yet know if his answer to the question would be satisfactory.   
  
The almost bald, pale as a vampire in those novels Bulma read, child sized man kept his mouth shut, no more than an almost borderline unseeable line. His intent was not one of pressure, he didn’t wish to make Tien speak his problems, for he knew him to be one to speak of them when he was ready, or the load become unsustainable, and he had to share, whichever happened first. Though he was admittedly curious, with an almost childlike need to learn what ailed his buddy, he knew him to not be ready to disclose yet.

  
Chiaotzu frowned, bothered by the comparison he had made inside his head. Many were those who thought of him as a child, who compared him to one, due to the size and shape of his body. This bothered him, in the rare times where he would confess to feeling such thoughts.  It wasn’t proper of his mind to wander into such territory, he should keep such petty and obvious comparisons for others to make. He didn’t even think of himself as such.   
  
Innocent or not, the thoughts he had had were cumbersome, and he had stopped floating forwards. He often floated instead of walking, due to the small nature of his legs, it was the fastest, and yet simplest way to keep up with Tien. Tien who was his companion and friend for life, and had been for so long. He truly felt like they got each other, and they barely had to talk, to communicate.   
  
Almost as if to prove his assumptions correct Tien stopped walking, looking over his shoulder, before turning around and facing the other man. He had something in his eyes, something in the way he looked at Chiaou that told him he had noticed the concerns plaguing his mind, and that he too, same as Chiaoutzu would like to hear what plagued his mind, so would Tien like to hear what plagued Chiaou’s head.

 

For a moment neither one of them spoke or did anything at all, they just stared at one another, as if ready for the other to speak, for the other to crack the walls and hills they were erecting around them, the only ones, when all they had in front of them was a plateau.   
  


Time might have moved still, but neither one of them really noticed nor cared for such details, their eyes locked on one another. Though one could possibly try to move forward and finish this stand still, this stand off of looks and attempts to help, neither one really did. All they wanted was to help the other, for a moment their own worries forgotten. Were they not the best of friends, their friendship for the other the most honest and valuable thing they had?   
  


More for Chiaoutsu’s benefit than for his own at last Tien spoke, he was a man that normally measured his words, speaking only when it suited him, Far removed from the youthful (though not childish) bravado and mockery Chiaou made of his rivals and enemies. Yet the time was right and it did suit him. If his friend was in a world of pain or hurt, perhaps sharing his own misgivings would help him open up.

 

“You might have picked up that the other stuff thing was a lie,” he smiles, a strained smile that no doubt Chiaou detects as being faked. He has to do better. But then he is confessing to what as well might be his sins, so a look of resignation would suit him.   
  
“The truth is, I’m worried about perceptions, about how people perceive me, and this goes further than the third eye!” Another smile, another wince. The normally quiet warrior feels as if his words are burning him inside out, and though he feels the need to yell, something that would  feel even louder in the silent and vast landscape they find themselves in, he doesn’t. Instead he breaks down the volume of his words, so much so that his next words barely come out as audible.

 

“Maybe I’m just an outsider, I don’t know. Perhaps it is due to my upbringing, my redemption, and  change, yet I have to ask,” their eyes lock again, and Tien can swear Chiaoutzu’s ones are bigger than plates. He is seemingly surprised by what burns inside Tien, but Tien needs this, the relief, the release of those flames that bury deep inside him. At that moment Chiaou does not  fault him for caring or suffering, as it is clear to him that it has finally become too much for Tien to handle.

 

“Am I just an outsider?”, and Tien stiffly looks forward, to the plateau, the Capsule Co capsule forgotten in his hands, something he has no use for even if it carries his few belongings, for at that moment Tien doesn’t care about posessions.

  
Chiaoutzu floats softly to him, to his familiar position by his shoulder, in a way Tien’s fears confirm his own, his need for acceptance a mirror of his needs. But there is no time for that thought, no time for worries.

 

“I understand.”, Chiaou says, and Tien looks at him and nods. The stiff movement and shaking frame stopping. Chiaou understands, of course he would, what was Tien thinking? They share the same background, and whatever unique physical characteristics he has, Chiaoutzu would have uniqueness to shadow his.

  
There is no need for further words, no need for anything but a nod, which Tien promptly does, Chiaou understands, and really, what else is there to add? This isn’t the time to look for answers, or for soothings, this is a time of friendship and companionship.   
  
His nod given, his worries and burden lessened, the taller of the two men advances forward, once more walking to the plateau.

 

For Chiaou understands, and that’s all that’s needed.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Originally a Pokémon story focusing on Steven Stone, the line about rolling it in between his fingers was written and my mind judo flipped me hard from a pokéball to a capsule, and I thought Dragon Ball.
> 
> So this one goes for Satu, since she is one of the few who writes this relationship as non romantic, and was half the reason I even tried it in the first place.
> 
> And yeah, there's no Yamcha in this, shame.


End file.
